H!S uploaded a teaser about the changes in H!P. It shows short clips of the girls that are to be transferred or get to debut (Morito, Yanagawa, Funaki, Ichioka, Danbara, Kawamura). It ends with Funaki opening a door - finding out who her new group mates are?

Morning Musume will be getting 1 member; Chisaki (13 total until fall when Haruka graduates)

Ichioka Reina will become the leader for a new TBD group!!!

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Angerme looked like they hit the jackpot with the members. Kana looked batshit crazy excited. I am looking forward to Ruru doing T&C/MKB songs. I think she'll excel in J=J, but Nanami, I'm concerned about. Who didn't guess that they'd add Chisaki to MM? I feel like it was a given. Now Ayumi has a dance battle person that may actually be able to keep up.

Well. We'll see. I hope YanaFuna will still be a thing and I'm disappointed Ruru didn't made it to MM. Funakki seems to be fit in Angerme at least so it's good. Chisaki didn't seem really happy to enter MM (but given her popularity and type, it's not that much of a surprise) and I wonder why Mizupon was so emotionnal (and other members didn't express much either). Really surprised they added members to JJ, I don't really have an opinion about it though ; will be happy only if it seems Ruru (and Nanamin) will come to Paris as well, but I really doubt they will.
Also, almost all japanese YouTube comments are along the lines "You shouldn't have add members to JJ !!" and the few that aren't about this are about Chisaki not happy face when entering MM.

Ichioka Reina (KSS) has been named the leader of a new group with undecided members.

Danbara makes perfect sense for JJ, I'm excited for her to be able to show her vocal skills here. I think her and Nanami will be able to slip in effortlessly. When Nanami was a KSS she always said Karin was her favorite member and sang a JJ song for her Happyoukai Test. I thought I would feel weird if JJ got new members, but not with these 2. I'm glad the members were so welcoming.

We were all right about Chisaki. I felt bad for her though during the announcement, you could tell she was really nervous and probably still in shock about CG, especially since she is the only 1st generation member to have a spot on another group. Mizuki says she didn't do the best job in welcoming her (I think she was nervous too), and when they announced it to the group they thought it was going to be a graduation announcement so their energy seemed low. I hope at this point they are getting along well with Chii-chan and have been able to alleviated some of her worries.

Kawamura seems like a great fit for ANGERME, and I know Funaki will do well in such a bright energetic group. The way Ayacho welcomed them was so cute! ANGERME definitely seems to have the best attitudes and get along really well.

Once again Reina gets the short stick and is the leader of a new group. I hope this group is at least announced at the summer concerts so she isn't sitting around with nothing to do.

I can't lie, I'm salty about Danbara going to Ju=Ju cause yeah, they're good performers and great singers but even with that, half the time I can't find a fuck to give about them. They could be absent from a summer concert and I'd be like "Huh, Juice=Juice isn't here, that's weird" and go on with the show. It "makes sense" but I figured if they were trying to boost Ju=Ju to the next level they'd.... I dunno. I guess we'll see how it goes.

Morito in MM was a given, but it's so sad to see how disappointed she looks with the whole situation. And Mizuki looks like she's aged 10 years since 13ki joined for some reason.

Of course, Funakki and Kawamura arguably got the best group of the bunch. But even Funakki looked upset with the situation... I have faith in Wada's leadership skills and Angerme's bonds and goofiness that they'll do fine.

But my question is, if Ichioka is going to be the leader of a group, why not put Danbara in with her? I would've rathered that. Then just leave Yanagawa a member of Ju=Ju.

How the hell can they split up Musubu and Nanami? That's like splitting up Aibon and Nono in their prime. Just stupid.

And just yesterday I watched the most recent J=J concert DVD, "Live Mission Final at Nippon Budokan," the best thing they've ever done and one of the best recent H!P concerts I've seen. As I watched, I kept gushing over them, thinking what a perfect unit they are and now that C-ute is gone, at least we have another five-person group that's only going to get better and better each year. Now they've ruined that whole dynamic by adding members.

I don't mind Chisaki in MM, though. And Angerme has suffered without Kanon and Meimi, so maybe a new dynamic would help, but only if they graduate an older member or two.

OK I'm going to go back and read everyone's responses but I need to say my thoughts. First of all I went into this with an open mind because I was initially pissed about s/mileage 2nd gen, and ANGERME name change and 3rd gen, and both of those things led to some of my favorite members and songs every.

BUT

I love Ruru and like Nanami. But I liked J=J being unchanged since major debut, and also I am sick of all these giant groups. Besides the impending new group all groups are now 7 or more. Just ugh.

ANGERME I am ok with them adding new members but it makes me nervous about Maho.

Words cannot express how pissed I am about Chisaki to MM. Nothing against her but Kaga and Yokoyoko JUST joined and I love them so much and they were the first non solo gen I fell in love with right away and I just feel like they're getting screwed over. Plus Chisaki obviously doesn't want to be there. LOL this is like the opposite of how I felt about 8th gen.

Not gonna lie, I kinda wish Ayano and Ruru switched places haha. I know ANGERME isn't really Ruru's image and J=J fits her style pretty much perfectly but she'd sound so fucking good on their songs whereas I don't feel Ayano adds much in that department. She's not bad but she sounds exactly like some of the other members so it feels like a lateral move. I can see ANGERME in her general attitude though so I'm sure she'll be comfortable there. I just worry about who will carry vocals if Akari ever decides to leave.

I feel bad for Chisaki but she's a cute and charismatic little girl so it's a win for MM in my eyes. Would've preferred Nanami in MM though - that's all I could think watching her perform in CG, that MM so badly needs someone with that sort of overflowing charisma and showmanship. Also, maybe she would've been less miserable about it than Chisaki since she barely had time to settle into CG anyway LOL.

I can see why they added members to J=J but unfortunately it won't matter much unless their music improves quite a bit. H!P has really shit the bed with J=J (remember how their first two songs got us ALL fucked up?) I'm going to be optimistic and say maybe this will breathe a little life into that corpse.

Her crying was because she was talking about all of the HP seniors graduating over the past few years (Sayumi, C-ute, Momo)

To me though she looked like she was also crying with frustration because she was saying how that even though she was prepared to welcome Chii-chan she didn't convey it, so I think there might have been some other stuff going on.

For some reason I always thought Tomoko's endometriosis would take her out of the game at some point...

But from what it seems on the YT comments the Japanese fans aren't too pleased with the J=J decision. Danbara always felt at odds with some of the wota as she wasn't super pretty... I just feel like this is going to egg on those types of things. The J=J "family" (wota) always seemed kind of hardcore fans. Like they had to make up for the general public not caring about them, or other wota not caring about them. I'm a bit worried how they'll be received.

It also seemed like Danbara didn't think she'd be in Ju=Ju. She did mention about not being able to imagine it. She probably thought she'd be in MM or Anju

This whole thing has me in a tizzy. Country Girls is was my favorite group so to see them destroyed is upsetting enough.

After them, my favorite group is Juice=Juice. I wanted Juice=Juice to be like MKB/C-ute/BK and be a stable lineup for 10+ years. Throwing people in after so long is upsetting.

(Not to mention the fear now that Yuka and/or Tomoko will announce a graduation, my two favorite members.)

ANGERME has always had a lot of girls so this isn't that crazy, but I'm just tired of seeing groups be so BIG. Once it goes into double-digits I feel like a line is being crossed.

It's acceptable for MM since it's been a thing for such a long time, but everyone else just keeps going up and up and it's pretty annoying.

The only thing I'm happy about is Reina leading a new group. This is probably going to be the last time for a while that we see KSS have an opportunity to be promoted, now that ANGERME is 11 and MM has a 14th gen. (C'mon, Shiori!)

As for the whichever girls are going into whatever groups, I don't really feel any kind of way. I guess I'm just curious to see how it goes. Probably won't make much a difference for MM and ANGERME, but Juice=Juice is gonna look REALLY different.

I'm gonna rant here, but let me say one thing first: I'm not mad, I'm not angry. In general I didn't expect anything at all and prepared for the worst, and the worst didn't happen. So I'm pretty much "ah, that's how it is" about things. But... I still want to rant haha.

First things first: No new members for Kobushi or Tsubaki. I'm really glad about that. Kobushi is going through some kind of weird phase at the moment so they might need to find themselves again, and Tsubaki just had new members. It's better to leave them for some time.

Now, first announcement: Juice=Juice. Not gonna lie, I'm very happy about that. While I do think that they shake up the group quite a bit (age-wise, and both look much younger than the J=J girls too) I feel Ruru and Nanami will make it work. Ruru can keep up in terms of performance. Nanami probably not so much, but she might be the somewhat needed fresh wind in the group. Since I like both, especially Nanami, and I still have a very sweet spot for J=J I'm pretty okay with how this turned out to be.

Of course, smells like graduations are coming now. Someone pointed out how Nanami is somewhat similar to Yuka, the bubbly one, but well. I kinda can't imagine Yuka in any other place haha. I hope they'll have at least one more year as a 7-nin group. I mean we had that kinda talk not too long ago: Up-Front would want to keep J=J around, especially as long as Karin is still there. So eh, might as well add a second gen.

Second: ANGERME. I lowkey hoped for Funakki to join MM since it was my dream from when she was a Kenshuusei but ANGERME was my second choice (I think putting her into Kobushi would be kinda weird, she looks WAY too young for J=J and she'd probably crush Tsubaki - sorry.). Therefore, yay! Especially since they can always need some nice vocals. Takechan and Moe are good, but they're both missing the certain something. (Murotan, as much as I love her, does not have a pleasant tone.) Ayano though... I honestly don't know much about her, I think she's pretty average in everything but she seems fun enough to keep up with ANGERME.

Then, MM. Oh boy. What an awkward situation. Honestly, they all sucked lol. Chisaki, unable to show any emotion. Mizuki, completely messing up the talk with Chisaki and then not preparing the group for the new member. The members, basically staring at Chisaki like "eh, it's you.".

Some people mentioned that Mizuki was still emotional about her senpai graduating (oh boy.) and the members thought Mizuki would announce her graduation and weren't prepared for new members yet, but there's effing 13 people in the group, at least someone could've done something. That's one of the reasons why I would've loved Funakki or Nanami in MM: They would've shaked things up. A crazy duo so they couldn't be held down by the others. But yeah Chisaki fits MM quite well: Good dancing, subaverage singing, somewhat cute and pretty but in the plainest way (aka doesn't stick out). I guess she's got at least a bit more character than some members.

Then, the Ichioka announcement. Oh boy. Now that was something that actually annoyed me a bit. Another announcement up in the air? Waiting once more for something? Ugh. Also: Why disband (I know they don't disband but it feels like it) a group just to make up a new one? Even Ichioka herself looked like she was thinking "uh, okay?".

Oh boy. I mean the Japanese fans probably wrote their comments in the heat of the moment and therefore were pretty frustrated, but I hope this change doesn't backfire. Or maybe I lowkey hope, but unfortunately it's not gonna be management that has to suffer through it but the girls.

I feel bad for Chisaki but she's a cute and charismatic little girl so it's a win for MM in my eyes. Would've preferred Nanami in MM though - that's all I could think watching her perform in CG, that MM so badly needs someone with that sort of overflowing charisma and showmanship. Also, maybe she would've been less miserable about it than Chisaki since she barely had time to settle into CG anyway LOL.

I can see why they added members to J=J but unfortunately it won't matter much unless their music improves quite a bit. H!P has really shit the bed with J=J (remember how their first two songs got us ALL fucked up?) I'm going to be optimistic and say maybe this will breathe a little life into that corpse.

I guess they didn't want a cute bubbly member when they just added Yokoyan. But I also would've loved Nanami in MM.

See them add new members to Kobushi in a year or so, that's basically their only solution to everything.

Although I would have thought they would new members to Kobushi, I'm thinking they might not now to keep them in the "spirit of BK".

I hope Maeda Kokoro and Kanatsu Mizuki are chosen for Reina's new group. Also I personally think Yonemura Kirara is really cute so I would like to see her debut too.
I wouldn't be surprised if Yamazaki Yuhane is chosen too after winning the singing award.